The CBI had filed a chargesheet on March 31, hours after the HC refused to quash the FIR lodged against the 83-year-old Singh and his wife in the disproportionate assets case
In a jolt to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, the Delhi High Court (HC) on Monday dismissed his plea that sought the quashing of a money laundering case against him, his family members, and two others.
"The petitions are found to be devoid of substance and, consequently, dismissed with all pending applications," Justice RK Gauba said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a case in September, 2015, against the CM, his wife Pratibha Singh, son Vikramditya Singh, and two others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after taking cognisance of a criminal complaint filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI had filed a chargesheet on March 31, hours after the HC refused to quash the FIR lodged against the 83-year-old Singh and his wife in the disproportionate assets case.
The court dismissed the argument given by the petitioners that the case against them was driven by political vendetta, stating that the argument was not supported by any proof. "The prime argument of the petitioners is of political vendetta. This is not supported by any material. These proceedings are not the appropriate forum for the court to examine such pleas which, in the interest of the petitioners themselves, must be left for it to be pressed at some appropriate stage in future," the court stated.
"Suffice it to observe in this context, and at this stage, that those in public life are expected to be open to probity. Higher the position in life, higher the obligation, moral, if not legal, to be accountable. Endeavours to stall investigation into their affairs by the law enforcement agencies, particularly on technical grounds, have the potency of giving the impression that there is something to hide," the court said.
The ED is probing the allegations against the CM and his family of having amassed disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 6.1 crore between 2009 and 2011, when he was the Union Minister of Steel in the UPA government.
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